


The Pancake vs Waffle debate

by autumninfall



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Breakfast, F/F, Fluff, Gen, Other, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Valentine's Day, nureyev will figure out what's going on eventually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 09:28:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29433867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autumninfall/pseuds/autumninfall
Summary: Breakfast in the morning aboard the Carte Blanche. But today is Valentine's Day, a day for all members of the crew to reaffirm their love for one another, even if they don't all quite understand the traditions.Also, they're having pancakes for breakfast. Or waffles? No, definitely pancakes.
Relationships: Buddy Aurinko/Vespa Ilkay, CB crew found family, Peter Nureyev/Juno Steel, Rita & Jet Sikuliaq
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39
Collections: TPP Valentine's Exchange





	The Pancake vs Waffle debate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dav](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dav/gifts).



> Happy Valentine's Dav!
> 
> This was really interesting to write, I had a good time doing it. I kind of mashed a bunch of your prompts together, even if I didn't quite fit everything in. I really hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Also want to thank Nova, who helped me out so much with this fic, is the only reason I managed to make it so fluffy, and gave me the interesting twist on the pancakes/waffles debate.

Juno held his hand over the frying pan, testing the heat. With his other hand he finished stirring the batter together in the bowl. He remembered the old, cramped, run down kitchen in the apartment back in Old Town. Him and Benten making pancakes in the early morning, quiet so as not to wake Sarah as she slept in her office. The memory brought a slight smile to his lips. Thoughts of his brother still hurt sometimes, but not with the same aching pain they used to. This memory almost made him happy even.

Jet was normally the one who made the crew breakfast aboard the Carte Blanche, but Juno had figured he’d give the big guy a break this morning. He’d woken up earlier than usual and had figured that hell, why not make pancakes. He still remembered his old recipe and everything.

Nureyev waltzed into the room carrying an empty mug just as Juno was ladling the first pancake into the pan. He pecked Juno on the cheek on his way over to the tea cupboard, then made his way back over to Juno as he waited for the water to boil for his tea.

“What are you making, love?” He asked as he wrapped his arms around him, resting his chin on top of Juno’s head.

“Pancakes. Figured I could give Jet a day off from breakfast duty, let him sleep in after Rita kept him up all night with their stream marathon.”

“Pancakes?” Nureyev leaned in closer to look at the pan. “Those look like waffles.”

“What? No, they’re pancakes. You’re wearing your glasses, right?” Juno turned his head to look at Peter.

“Of course I am, my dear. And those are very clearly waffles.”

Nureyev’s cologne, his smell, was invading all of Juno’s senses, making it difficult to think, to do anything but lean in closer to the thief. “They’re not waffles.” He mumbled into his shoulder.

Rita stumbled in, still clad in her bright, fuzzy pyjamas and with her hair piled in a loose bun atop her head. “Did’ya say waffles boss?” She asked sleepily, rubbing at her eyes.

“No Rita, I’m making pancakes. And I can’t make waffles anyway, we don’t have a waffle iron on the ship.”

“You don’t use an iron to make waffles, you use a pan. I may not be the best cook,” Juno thought that was a slight understatement, given the incident that had gotten Nureyev banned from kitchen duty. “But even I know that much. It’s-”

“But waffles are so much more fun!” Rita cut Nureyev off mid sentence, all traces of sleepiness vanishing from her posture as she spoke. “They’re such fun shapes, and they’re crunchy, and you can fit so much more syrup in them! And, oh! Did you know that the biggest waffle ever made was 2.4698959 meters wide? This was back on earth close to a thousand years ago now, you’d think someone would have gone and made a bigger one since. You know, that reminds me I was watching his stream about a guy who fell in-”

Juno listened to Rita info dump about her latest stream as he flipped the first pancake out of the pan and started the second one. “Could you get the syrup and butter out on the table?” He asked Nureyev.

“Of course, love.” Peter pressed a lingering kiss to the side of his neck then unstuck himself from Juno’s back to go set the table.

They worked together in smooth, practiced motions. They might not be used to this exact dance, but they’d had enough practice dancing with each other that they could easily pick up on the steps. When the last pancake was flipped onto the serving plate, Nureyev helped him carry the plates of pancakes out to the rest of the crew in the mess hall.

“They’re definitely waffles, love,” Nureyev corrected him one last time as they left the galley.

Juno forcefully deposited the stack he was carrying down on the table. “Before we all start eating, we have one thing to clear up. Are these pancakes, or waffles?” He shot Nureyev a glare as he said the last word.

“Waffles!” Peter exclaimed.

“Waffles, obviously.” Said Vespa.

“Pancakes.” Rita, Buddy, and Jet chimed in simultaneously.

Buddy laughed. “Outer Rim planets tend to call what we Solar people know as pancakes waffles, and what we know as waffles pancakes. A strange linguistic mix up, but quite amusing when taking your girlfriend on your first breakfast date on a solar planet.”

They passed around the plates of food and everyone helped themselves. Rita, as usual, ended up with something that more resembled syrup with a stack of pancakes floating inside. Despite the fact that he hadn’t made them in years, the pancakes had turned out really well. And if they weren’t quite as fluffy as he remembered well, he could always blame that on the atmosphere in space. It wasn’t long before everyone capable of eating breakfast had cleared off their plates. No one felt the need to get up right away however, content to simply sit around the table together in companionable silence, sipping their drinks.

Eventually, Buddy clapped her hands together. “Well. I suppose we should be getting on with the next bit of the morning, shouldn’t we? Now who would like to go first?”

Everyone glanced at each other, waiting to see who would bite the hopefully metaphorical bullet.

“Ah, well, I suppose I could go first.” Nureyev volunteered. He pulled five neatly wrapped boxes out of his pockets. How he had fit them all in there without it being noticeable, Juno had no clue. At this point he had stopped questioning it.

“Did you… get something for everyone?” Juno asked, picking up the box Nureyev slid him and rolling it around in his hands.

“Yes, is that not how it goes?”

“Normally you just get something for the person you’re in a relationship with.”

“Oh, ah, I’m terribly sorry. I overheard you and Rita talking and I assumed - I seem to have misunderstood how this worked.” Peter was as flustered as Juno had ever seen him, flushing slightly around his cheeks and the back of his neck.

Juno ripped the paper off his present to reveal… a small jar of honey? “Is this honey? Where did you even get this?”

“I got honey liqueur.” Buddy held up her own gift to examine it.

“I definitely misunderstood.” Nureyev had his face in his hands at this point to try and hide the colour he had turned.

“I’m from Ranga, the most backwater planet there is, and I still know how this Solar holiday tradition works.” Vespa growled. Despite her tone, she still held the jar of honey Nureyev had given her, and seemed to be making no move to give it back.

“You also had me to explain it to you, Vespa dear.” Buddy reminded her. “Perhaps you would like to go next then, show us all how it’s done?”

“Fine.” Vespa growled. She handed a small, silver box to Buddy. She handled it tenderly, in the way she only ever was when it came to her wife.

Buddy delicately removed the lid and plucked a small crystal bottle of perfume out. She sprayed a small puff onto the inside of her wrist and took a sniff. “Why thank you dear, this is lovely.” She slid her own box over to Vespa, a long rectangular thing.

Vespa unfolded the lid and carefully pulled out the knife nestled within. It was a wicked looking blade, long and thin and perfect for getting in between ribs and reaching the heart. Vespa reverently ran her finger down the gleaming edge. “Aw, thanks Bud. It’s beautiful.” She sniffed, angrily wiping her eyes.

“I saw it in a window the last time we were on Mars, and it made me think of you immediately, darling.”

Vespa smiled at Buddy, before leaning over to press a soft kiss to her mouth.

Jet turned to look at Rita. “It is normally a day for romantic couples to exchange gifts and express their affection for one another, but it is my understanding that friends can do it as well.” He said to her.

“Oh, I’m glad you said that Mista Jet, cause I got you something! You remember that stream we were watching, the one on Neptune where the zeno-geologist and the vampire who was also a zeno-geologist went exploring a glacier and they got trapped in the ice cave and almost froze to death? Well it got me thinking, what if something like that happened to us, and I thought it was best to be prepared for anything, so I made you this!” She pulled out a sparkly green lump with a flourish. “Unfold it, unfold it, I wanna see what it is!”

Jet unfolded the bundle to reveal a long, hand knit scarf. “Thank you, Rita. It appears that we had similar thoughts, as I got you something as well.” He handed her a cloth bag.

“Ooooh!” Rita shrieked in excitement as she reached inside and pulled out a long purple piece of fabric. “OmmygoshthankyouMistahJetnowmematch!” She wrapped the scarf around her neck several times and hugged him.

“I am glad you like it, Rita.”

“I love it, Mistah Jet!”

Juno smiled, then quietly slid his own present over to Nureyev. He watched as nimble fingers picked the wrapping open.

“Why Juno, this is-”

“Is that a knife, Ransom?” Vespa drawled, spinning her own between her fingers.

“Don’t get jealous, Vespa.” Juno shot back at her.

Buddy cut them off before they could ramp up their argument any further. “Well darlings, this has been lovely. But there really is so much more of the day to get going on. Juno, you made breakfast, thank you by the way, so I trust you can clean up?”

“Yeah, no problem – hey wait, I made breakfast!”

“Exactly, so I’m sure you can clean it up too!”

“I -“

“I’ll help you, dear.” Nureyev brushed his hand over Juno’s as he leaned past him to begin gathering up the plates.

“Thanks.”

They stood side by side in front of the sink as they worked. Juno leaned into Peter as he submerged his hands in the hot, soapy water and handed the thief the clean plates to dry. Nureyev pressed a kiss to the top of Juno’s head, making the detective look up. Once he had Juno’s full attention, Nureyev leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to Juno’s lips. “Happy Valentine’s, love.”

Juno smiled softly. “Yeah. All in all, not to bad for a first time, huh?”

“I suppose not. Although I really did misunderstand what Rita was telling you about.”

To distract him, and definitely not for any other reason, Juno reached up and pulled him down to give him another kiss. “Happy Valentine’s day.”

To his credit, Nureyev only made a slight face at the wet hand on his neck. “I love you, dear.”

“Yeah, same.” Juno looked up into those bright eyes. “Actually, you know what? No. I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact, St Valentine was also patron saint of beekeepers. Thus the misunderstanding and the honey.


End file.
